Selahattin Demirtaş sent a message to the 13th Kurdish Conference at the European Parliament, to which he could not attend because of his imprisonment, and said “Our struggle for freedom and democracy will continue even in prison.”
HDP Co-President Selahattin Demirtaş, who had been invited to speak at the 13th Kurdish Conference at the European Parliament in the Belgian capital Brussels but could not attend the conference because of his imprisonment, sent the following message:
“Dear friends,
We are witnessing a time where Middle Easter peoples suffer from war, destruction and migration. The political and social trauma of the Sykes-Picot agreement that was forced upon our region has reached its peak. The polarizing and violent policies that have been employed by the nation states in the region inflict heavy blows against our peoples’ hopes for salvation.
The clearest examples of these policies are those of the Erdoğan regime inside and outside Turkey, which attack and oppress the social and political bonds that enable peoples’ coexistence. The Erdoğan regime has already ended the already limited democracy in Turkey, and has been destroying the conditions for peoples coexistence in Syria and Iraq with its military and political interventions.
I salute you with my unshakable confidence in freedom, peace and justice. I would have loved to be among you and speak about the future and hopes of the Middle East today. I offer my most sincere greetings to the EUTCC, Left Group, Socialist Group and the Greens at the EP, who have organized the conference. I thank Parliamentary President Martin Schulz for his hospitality. I have met and spoken with most of you individually. Unfortunately, the concerns and worries that we had shared with you regarding the bad direction of Turkey turned out to be accurate.
The arrests of HDP parliamentarians, co-mayors and politicians are connected with the deepening crisis in the Middle East. The fact that we were arrested in ways that can only be seen in military coups or dictatorial regimes will never prevent us from continuing our rightful struggle. Our struggle for freedom and democracy will continue even in prison. The trust and solidarity of our allies, wherever they may be in the world, will enhance our struggle.
In this regard, I see your conference as an important opportunity for accurately evaluating and understanding the developments in Turkey and the Middle East, and to take action. I offer my most sincere greetings to the speakers and participants of the conference.”
